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Battery draw

P

Parttime

Member
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I have a 4 amp battery draw and have traced it to the firewall junction box, when I remove the power wire off the stud it goes away.
When I put the power wire back on stud and then remove the other wires on the 4 studs I still have a 4 amp battery draw.
What am I missing?
Thanks for the help!
 
Common problems:
Brake light switch stuck "on".

It's not that? Then...

Glove box light on.
Dome lights on from bad switch.
Underhood light.
Aftermarket radio gone bad. Or wiring problem.
Trailer Brake controller.
Horn switch stuck on (relay taking power) and burnt out the horn.
And an oddball I had: Ignition switch trouble including bent rod to the switch leaving it in ACC when it's key is in the off position.
I assume the parking lights and headlights are off.

So start taking the wires off the power junction till you find the trouble wire that has the 4A draw. (After a quick check of the above.)
 
Welcome to the forum @Parttime

What helps me is when looking for a power draw, I use a test light connected between the battery cable and the battery post. disconnect one of the battery terminals and put your test light in between. it will light up. then disable the dome light and start pulling fuses one by one until the light goes out. that will narrow it down to what circuit it's on. things like an aftermarket radio and an alternator with the regulator stuck on come to mind. if it's the alternator, disconcerting the wires from it including the large one from the battery will make the test light go out.

It's just a process of elimination until you can isolate what is drawing the power.
 
Thanks for the great advice, I truly appreciate yaw taking time to support me on this task. I have pulled the fuses, and disconnected the alternator. It’s hard to believe that the power junction block would go bad.
I’m out of town rite now, when I get back I will pull the block off the firewall. I will let yaw know what I find. Have a good evening.
Thanks
Jim from Palacios Texas on the Gulf Coast!
 
Jim, one way you can eliminate the block making sure the block it's self is the problem is take all the leads from the block and run them together using a bolt and nut. connect them one by one and see if and which wire it is if the draw returns. But don't keep it like this, this is only a way to remove the block out of the equation. I am betting one of the leads to the block is the power draw issue.

Once found maybe take a photo and show us which wire it is and where it leads to.

By the way Jim, you aren't related to a Julio Palacios out of San Antonio who works at CMC Steel? I'm near you by a few miles. in Seguin Texas. Glad to see another member join that's from the great state of Texas!!
 
dbrannon79 said:
Jim, one way you can eliminate the block making sure the block it's self is the problem is take all the leads from the block and run them together using a bolt and nut. connect them one by one and see if and which wire it is if the draw returns. But don't keep it like this, this is only a way to remove the block out of the equation. I am betting one of the leads to the block is the power draw issue.

Once found maybe take a photo and show us which wire it is and where it leads to.

By the way Jim, you aren't related to a Julio Palacios out of San Antonio who works at CMC Steel? I'm near you by a few miles. in Seguin Texas. Glad to see another member join that's from the great state of Texas!!
Click to expand...
Thanks
Not related
I will for sure let you know what issue I find and send a pic.
My cars 55 2 door , 69 LeMans, working on 67 chevelle, 55 Chevy truck big window.
Jim
 
Update
The block is good.
Here’s what I did, I left the power wire on the block and started disconnecting each wire. One by one while checking my meter each wire I disconnected didn’t clear my 4 amp draw. When I disconnected the last wire the meter cleared. I then touched each wire to the block independently and got a 4 amp draw on each of the wires. This don’t seem rite or am I missing something.
Test procedure disconnect negative battery cable put one lead on the battery and other lead on the ground cable, meter set to DC amps.
Could this possibly be a bad ground correction on the truck?
Anyway thanks for any tips or thoughts!
Jim
 
So am I understanding correctly that each one of the leads going to the block all draw 4 amps or regardless of which one you connect the power draw appears? it's not one single wire you were able to isolate as where the draw is coming off from?

for a ground issue, a quick and dirty way to check is to use a set of jumper cables. connect both on one end to the engine block, then on the other end find a good place on the frame and to the negative battery cable. then do the test again.

I am not too familiar with doing the test with a multi-meter as much as using a test light and watching the bulb brightness. a dim bulb will be the keep alive memory for the radio and the PCM, but a bright bulb is a draw.

in doing the test, eliminate the easy stuff first. pull the hot lead and small connector off from your alternator, wrap the lead with a rag or something to prevent it from touching anything. make sure everything in the cab is off and the doors are closed. also in the dash fuse panel, pull the fuse for the radio. this will take the radio and alternator completely out of the equation. then re-test.

Questions: does your truck have an aftermarket radio, amp, or alarm installed? Or any other non factory add-ons like driving lights, LED bulbs anywhere. or from factory some models had dome lights that stayed on for a minute or two after shutdown and parking.

After isolating the mentioned above and the draw persists, then it's time to re-connect the battery and go though the truck looking for and making a mental note on what works and doesn't. Domes, cigar plugs, any interior and exterior lights, ect...

going back to testing and begin pulling fuses one by one until you ether have no more fuses to pull or the draw goes to nothing. Note, use your phone taking a photo of the fuse box layout and what size fuses are in each slot so you can put them back. There is also a fuse in a water tight cover next to the junction block on the firewall for the fuel pump.

at one point you should find which circuit the draw is on.

If when all fuses are pulled from the box and the draw still persists, this is when you get crazy with disconnecting other things like the trans main connector, PCM behind the glove box, turn signal harness under the steering column, ect...

If all mentioned above is disconnected and the draw persists, then you have a wiring issue somewhere in the truck and the "fun" begins....
 
dbrannon79 said:
So am I understanding correctly that each one of the leads going to the block all draw 4 amps or regardless of which one you connect the power draw appears? it's not one single wire you were able to isolate as where the draw is coming off from?

for a ground issue, a quick and dirty way to check is to use a set of jumper cables. connect both on one end to the engine block, then on the other end find a good place on the frame and to the negative battery cable. then do the test again.

I am not too familiar with doing the test with a multi-meter as much as using a test light and watching the bulb brightness. a dim bulb will be the keep alive memory for the radio and the PCM, but a bright bulb is a draw.

in doing the test, eliminate the easy stuff first. pull the hot lead and small connector off from your alternator, wrap the lead with a rag or something to prevent it from touching anything. make sure everything in the cab is off and the doors are closed. also in the dash fuse panel, pull the fuse for the radio. this will take the radio and alternator completely out of the equation. then re-test.

Questions: does your truck have an aftermarket radio, amp, or alarm installed? Or any other non factory add-ons like driving lights, LED bulbs anywhere. or from factory some models had dome lights that stayed on for a minute or two after shutdown and parking.

After isolating the mentioned above and the draw persists, then it's time to re-connect the battery and go though the truck looking for and making a mental note on what works and doesn't. Domes, cigar plugs, any interior and exterior lights, ect...

going back to testing and begin pulling fuses one by one until you ether have no more fuses to pull or the draw goes to nothing. Note, use your phone taking a photo of the fuse box layout and what size fuses are in each slot so you can put them back. There is also a fuse in a water tight cover next to the junction block on the firewall for the fuel pump.

at one point you should find which circuit the draw is on.

If when all fuses are pulled from the box and the draw still persists, this is when you get crazy with disconnecting other things like the trans main connector, PCM behind the glove box, turn signal harness under the steering column, ect...

If all mentioned above is disconnected and the draw persists, then you have a wiring issue somewhere in the truck and the "fun" begins....
Click to expand...
The truck is 5 speed and stock no modifications. I will start checking the things that you have suggested. I will post in a day or two the results I find. Thanks again for your time and the others who have posted on my battery draw. 👀👍
Jim
 
dbrannon79 said:
So am I understanding correctly that each one of the leads going to the block all draw 4 amps or regardless of which one you connect the power draw appears? it's not one single wire you were able to isolate as where the draw is coming off from?

for a ground issue, a quick and dirty way to check is to use a set of jumper cables. connect both on one end to the engine block, then on the other end find a good place on the frame and to the negative battery cable. then do the test again.

I am not too familiar with doing the test with a multi-meter as much as using a test light and watching the bulb brightness. a dim bulb will be the keep alive memory for the radio and the PCM, but a bright bulb is a draw.

in doing the test, eliminate the easy stuff first. pull the hot lead and small connector off from your alternator, wrap the lead with a rag or something to prevent it from touching anything. make sure everything in the cab is off and the doors are closed. also in the dash fuse panel, pull the fuse for the radio. this will take the radio and alternator completely out of the equation. then re-test.

Questions: does your truck have an aftermarket radio, amp, or alarm installed? Or any other non factory add-ons like driving lights, LED bulbs anywhere. or from factory some models had dome lights that stayed on for a minute or two after shutdown and parking.

After isolating the mentioned above and the draw persists, then it's time to re-connect the battery and go though the truck looking for and making a mental note on what works and doesn't. Domes, cigar plugs, any interior and exterior lights, ect...

going back to testing and begin pulling fuses one by one until you ether have no more fuses to pull or the draw goes to nothing. Note, use your phone taking a photo of the fuse box layout and what size fuses are in each slot so you can put them back. There is also a fuse in a water tight cover next to the junction block on the firewall for the fuel pump.

at one point you should find which circuit the draw is on.

If when all fuses are pulled from the box and the draw still persists, this is when you get crazy with disconnecting other things like the trans main connector, PCM behind the glove box, turn signal harness under the steering column, ect...

If all mentioned above is disconnected and the draw persists, then you have a wiring issue somewhere in the truck and the "fun" begins....
Click to expand...
Yes I removed all wires off the the box except the power wire. I then touched each of the remaining wires to the block and all had a 4 amp draw. I will continue looking and checking with the things you suggested.
Many thanks for your help!
Jim
 
It sounds like each of those power wires on the junction block are somehow tied together at other points in the truck or possibly back feeding circuits they shouldn't. I would have to sit and study the OE schematics following each one for what they are supposed to be powering.
 
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